Link-O-Rama

Flannel Friday!

Lahbree Thang

Monday, July 11, 2016

If you're like me, the idea of a summer reading program based on sports and being active is 1) a contradiction in terms and b) just not your thing. I rejected the idea of sports-oriented storytimes, even though I'd be doing them in a park. At the last minute, though, I changed my mind. Work out of your comfort zone, I told myself. There are plenty of picture books about sports and games. It's only eight storytimes. You can do this!

Yes, there are plenty of books, but not that many flannelboards or fingerplays. Oh, there's "Take Me Out To The Ballgame." I searched all over the internet and found some football related flannelboard stuff - but football (Amurrikin football) is a fall thing. And basketball is a winter thing. And summers down here are just too darn hot.

But I decided I could make up my own stuff, so I will share it here with you. Some may have been inspired by bits and pieces I've seen elsewhere, but most of this is just my own work. Have fun with them!

Baseball:

Hi-Ho It's Baseball Time!

The pitcher's on the mound,
The pitcher's on the mound,
Hi-Ho, it's baseball time,
The pitcher's on the mound.

The catcher's at the plate ...

The batter's in the box ...

The umpire calls the strikes ...

The fielder catches flies ...

The shortstop makes the play ...

The runner's out at third ...

The runner's safe at home ...

The crowd stands and cheers ...

The Ball In the Air

The ball in the air goes round and round,
round and round, round and round.
The ball in the air goes round and round
In the baseball field.

The bat in the hand goes swish-swish-swish ...
In the baseball field.

The glove on the hand goes up and down ...
In the baseball field.

The batter who hit goes 'round the bases ...
In the baseball field.

The umpire at the base yells, "Yeeeer out!" ...
In the baseball field.

Soccer:

Hi Ho It's Soccer Time!

The ball is out of bounds,
The ball is out of bounds,
Hi ho, it's soccer time,
The ball is out of bounds.

The player scores a goal ...

The yellow card is up ...

The player is offside ...

The whistle stops the play ...

(Yes, I know I'm overdoing this format)

We'll Be Running Down the Field

We'll be running down the field, yes we will.
We'll be running down the field, yes we will.
We'll be running down the field
When we play soccer for real.
We'll be running down the field, yes we will.

We'll be dribbling with our feet, yes we will.
We'll be dribbling with our feet, yes we will.
We'll be dribbling with our feet -
I thinks that's really neat!
We'll be dribbling with our feet, yes we will.

We will bounce the ball off ankles, knees, and head.
We will bounce the ball off ankles, knees, and head.
We will bounce the ball off ankles
'Cause using our hands rankles.
We will bounce the ball off ankles, knees, and head.

Head and Elbows, Knees and Toes

Head and elbows, knees and toes, knees and toes.
Head and elbows, knees and toes, knees and toes.
We don't use our hands to make a goal.
Head and elbows, knees and toes, knees and toes.

Swimming!

Splash and Kick
To "Down By the Station"

When the sun is shining,
I like to go swimming.
Swimming at the lake
Or swimming at the pool.
Splashing and kicking;
Water all around me.
Splash, splash, kick, kick,
Keeping cool.

Swimming

I can dive.(move hands flattened together)
I can swim.(Swimming motion)
I can float(hands out to sides with head thrown back)
And hold my breath.(hold breath)
But dog paddle(paddle like a dog)
Is the stroke
That I do best.

In My Swimming Pool
(To "Do Your Ears Hang Low")

I can stay real cool
In my little swimming pool.
On a sunny summer day
I can splash around and play.
When I wear my bathing suit,
I'll be cool and I'll be cute
In my swimming pool!

Football:

If You're Practicing For Football

If you're practicing for football, run in place.
If you're practicing for football, run in place.
If you want to play the game
Not to practice is a shame.
If you're practicing for football, run in place.

If you're practicing for football, touch your toes ...

If you're practicing for football, say "Hut-hut!"

Football Player

Football player, football player,
Throw the ball!(Hold one hand back like you are going to throw a football)
Catch the pass!(Pull both hands to chest as if catching a football)
Run and don't get tackled(Pretend to run)
Run and don't get tackled
It's a touchdown! It's a touchdown!(Hold both arms straight up to signal a touchdown.)

If you're a ninja and you know it,
Be really quiet! (Shhh!)
If you're a ninja and you know it,
Be really quiet! (Shhh!)
If you're a ninja and you know it,
Then your face will surely show it.
If you're a ninja and you know it,
Be really quiet! (Shhh!)

Friday, July 17, 2015

This has probably been my least successful summer storytime experience. I had high hopes for the "Every Hero Has a Story" theme because it would give me a chance to break into the folktales, many of which are a bit beyond the usual pre-school level I aim at during the school year. What folktale doesn't have its hero?

Summer storytime at our library takes place mostly at the local parks, lovely venues with a shelter that offers shade. This began in the days when the air conditioning in the Children's Room was not working. It was a constant 82 degrees in there and at 10 am it would be cooler in the park, especially with a nice breeze going. They tried numerous times to repair the a/c, but if it worked, the a/c in the rest of the building didn't. Three years ago we moved into a brand new building and now freeze our toes off in summer.

I have discovered limitations to park storytimes including and not limited to: breezes blowing the flannelboard over (fixed that by using one that hung around my neck or one on a stick), hands getting too sticky for hand puppets (only stick puppets now), and groundskeepers' noise (... no real fix for that). Otherwise, we continue doing storytimes in the parks even though we have the lovely new building and working a/c.

The parks usually have children already there, whether they expected storytime or not. It might be difficult to get them to come listen but then again it acquaints more people with our library programs, so it's great PR. This year I had a bumper crop of kids from a nearby church's summer camp, but they weren't interested in storytime. Even after the adults forced them to get off the playground equipment and come sit in the shade, they would get bored and wander off. Subsequently, they were coerced before I got there to stay put, but I could see that they just weren't into what I was doing although the books were clearly aimed at the predominant group of older kids.

I had to rethink my whole plan. I set aside all the books I'd been so excited about (Robin Hood, Perseus, etc.) and fell back on Shark In the Park! I made 30 shark masks and combined two paper towel rolls to make a telescope. The storytime dwindled from 30 minutes to 15.

After July 4th, it usually all peters out and it happened again. The group didn't come and I had 30 Midas Mouse (I was sneaking some folktale back in with stick puppets) coloring sheets that were barely used. I had two kids and their grandma and they could not sit still.

It crept back up again when a different group came by last week. They had no idea I had been doing storytimes every week. Hurray! Now they know - although there are only 2 weeks left. Next week it's monkeys. It's more like pre-school storytime, but I just don't know who will be coming.

I will still continue with storytime in the parks, but I am on the fence about continuing with the summer themes in storytimes. On the one hand, it did not serve me well this summer and I had to throw out all the preparation I'd done (which was only one month's worth, but still!). On the other hand, the themes give me a chance to stretch myself. I might be choosing books I do not normally use and have to augment those choices with new flannel boards and fingerplays.

The main lesson is, and this works for all kinds of storytimes, Don't Be Afraid to Throw It All Out and Start Over.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

I'm considering adding some new verses to this perennial favorite opening song.

If you're happy and you know it squeal in a pitch that makes paint peel.
If you're happy and you know it squeal in a pitch that makes paint peel.
If you're happy and you know it, your high-pitched squeal will show it.
If you're happy and you know it squeal in a pitch that makes paint peel.

If you're happy and you know it roll backwards and then forwards and slam your feet on the floor.
If you're happy and you know it roll backwards and then forwards and slam your feet on the floor.
If you're happy and you know it your somersaults will show it.
If you're happy and you know it roll backwards and then forwards and slam your feet on the floor.

My storytime regulars are so enthusiastic. No amount of correction from the mom seems to curb them. Don't squeal! No amount of correction from me seems to help. Stay seated!
And it just encourages the other children to try these variants on storytime behavior.

Sigh, only two more weeks of storytime and by the time I see them again, they'll be three to four months older and we'll see if we can start off with an Expected Behavior Lecture.

Tuesday, July 01, 2014

I don't always answer the phone here, but when I do, I'm the Etiquette Police.

Okay, here's how it works. You call the library.

Ring! Ring!
Me: Your Local Library! May I help you?
You: Hello. I have a question. Are you open on Saturdays?
Me: Yes, indeed. We are open from Insanely Stupid Hour to Another Silly Hour.
Etc.
You: Thank you. You were very helpful and not at all snide!
Me: You're welcome! It's so refreshing to talk to someone who knows what they want.
[Hang up.]

Not:

Ring! Ring!
Me: Your Local Library! May I help you?
You: How are you?
Me: ... uhhhh. [Thinks: Who is this? Do they know me?] Fine?

When "How are you?" is appropriate:

Ring! Ring!
Me: Your Local Library! May I help you?
You: Hello, I'm calling to ask ... Wait a minute! Is this Miss Marf?
Me: Yes, it is ...
You: This is [Insert name of child who used to come to my storytime 20 years ago and is now married with a kid]! How are you?
Me: Ohhhhhh, [name inserted while I desperately try to remember who it is]! So good to hear from you! I'm doing quite well. How are you?
You: I'm just great! I'm in law school now. I was calling to find out about your hours on Saturdays.

See the difference? In one case, it was someone who was just calling for information and was a stranger. In the other, it was someone who knew and remembered me (even if I could not immediately recall them - which happens all the time). But I get this "How are you?" gambit all the time. As much as I'd like to respond with some version of, "Excuse me, but who is this?" I realize that I am at a public service desk and while I might think correcting someone's phone etiquette constitutes a "public service," I bet my boss doesn't.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

I suppose it says something about the internet that I reluctantly did not include the first part of that expression.

A while ago, I heard that one of our branches did some great programs with Legos. Now, just to play effectively with Legos you need a lot of them. The branch manager had groups of kids building. It occurred to me that when we bought our Lego table and Duplo blocks (because they're too big to be swallowed and can be left out), we were accidentally sent some of the smaller blocks. We had two unopened bags of them stored for a few years, forgotten.
I sent them to the branch. My boss wasn't thrilled. What if we wanted to do a program with them? Ahhh, but if we do, how much more likely we are to get all the ones from the branch as well as those back! Won't the branch look more kindly upon us? The two bags we had weren't enough to do a program with, unless there were very few kids. Besides, it got more junk out of our storage and to a place where someone would use them. Win-win-win!
Cast your Legos (and other resources) upon the waters ...

A blogpost on how to do a program here: http://showmelibrarian.blogspot.com/2012/11/how-to-host-lego-club.html

Friday, June 06, 2014

We have a (relatively) new library with a fabulous (ha) projector system that's supposed to play Blu-Ray and project laptops onto a screen that is supposed to come down and go back up in a reasonable fashion.

Me, I would rather sit and read to 50 squirmy kids for 90 minutes than have to try to operate this useless piece of techsrement. It did come with some sort of remote, but not the sort of remote that you or I use for watching DVDs at home - oh no! I'm not sure what it does, but the remote isn't in anyway useful. In fact, I didn't know we even had one until out of desperation in trying to figure something out, I opened the case on the wall. The remote was inside. Ah, so it wouldn't get lost, I imagine. It would have been nice to have known it was in there, even if it's useless.

This equipment, which was undoubtedly expensive, came with no guide or operation manual. If there had been one, the installers took it with them when they left, just before they hid the remote inside the casing. We have no idea what we're doing most of the time. The only advice they gave me was "Never turn this off," and the man pointed at the main switch. "It will mess up the programming." I have never turned it off. I dutifully put a sign next to that switch that says "Never turn off."

It would also have been nice if there was some audio input so that I could play my puppet show recordings, but no. I have to set my boombox up on the stage for puppet audio.

It's useless. Just plain without any sense or rhyme.

Today we had to show a movie, and I suggested we get going 45 minutes ahead because I know this trash heap can be ... finicky. We inserted the Blu-Ray, pressed the Blu-Ray button and a selection screen was projected. There was no way to make a selection and it would not move past that screen to play. We tried everything. By this time there are now three of us working on it. We tried the laptop, and that was taking forever to come up. We clicked the laptop button and waited for the disc to start up. Nothing but the blue screen of death was being projected. And the laptop wouldn't give the disc back. Finally, I pressed the laptop button again and it came on. We were able to choose "English" and the video progressed.

We were done with five minutes to spare and not all the popcorn was ready, but it was close. This happens almost every time we use the contraption. Something is always going wrong and we have to bash at buttons and find work-arounds.

Meantime, it's busy out in the Children's Room. People are signing up for Summer Reading and asking questions. Fortunately, the internet and wireless were down, so that cut down quite a bit of that sort of traffic. However, I was a quivering blob by then.

I hate that system. It's useless. I can't think of another word than "useless," unless with some sort of string of emphatic intensifiers. I can only hope that the next time they plan to show a movie (even more annoying is that the person who set up the movie schedule no longer works here to handle it herself), I will be either in another country or on another planet.

Friday, May 09, 2014

The library is a public space, and as a public space, we have to allow the public inside. This causes all sorts of problems: the public likes to touch the books, the public likes to take books home, the public brings the books back. Most of these are problems that are actually a feature of the business we're in.
There are many other little things that crop up from time to time. I have often had to wear the Psychiatrist Hat. When we were between cleaning help, I had to clean the bathrooms in my area - and this has happened in both the old and the new library. Now, one expects poo to be a part of this, if one is cleaning a bathroom. One might not expect it elsewhere in the library, but it did happen once in the stacks and a patron had to point it out, after it had even been trodden a bit into the carpet by either an unsuspecting child or, perhaps, a suspected one.
At the old library, we had access to some cleaning products and paper towels and I personally cleaned that up.
Now, I told you that story to tell you this next one.
Once upon an old library with a one-person cleaning crew, there was another one of these accidents that happened in the adult area. An adult was not quick enough and left a ... spoor from the magazine/reading area, past the circulation desk, and finally to the bathroom. The woman who had been working in the Reference Room nearby took the initiative to clean it up herself before it became ground in, as had happened in my area.
Her idea was to get a broom and sweep it up onto paper and she was in a hurry. The cleaning woman had a broom. The cleaning woman was there. There ensued the sort of scene worthy of The Lucy Show.
The cleaning woman would not give up the broom for this. It was a clean broom. No amount of cajoling or promises to immediately buy a new broom for her induced the cleaning woman to relinquish her broom.
The reason I know about this is because there was a chase scene starting from the ... spoor all around to the Children's Room where a tug-of-war erupted right in front of me. So, picture, if you will, two middle-aged women tugging a broom back and forth and arguing, in the middle of the Children's Room of a public library. Moments like these are precious jewels in my memory. Hold that scene in your mind and add whatever colorful elements you choose. End it however you like when you are ready and sufficiently amused. If you want to know how it was resolved, the reference librarian had weight on her side and she finally got possession of the broom and scurried off to clean up. The cleaning woman muttered imprecations and quit right then.
I was reminded of this story today when a child peed on the carpet and all I had was a roll of paper towels, all the cleaning products being locked up for the professional crew.